Christmas in the Rockies

We had a lovely Christmas here. The family all gathered at my house for the day. We opened gifts, ate far too much, sipped a little champagne, and enjoyed being together. It was my granddaughter, Bella's, first Christmas, which made it extra special.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday, however you spent it.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

Love,
Deb

Thanksgiving

I am thankful this and every year for my family and their continued good health. This year I give special thanks for the birth of my first granddaughter, Annabella Debra Carr.

I am thankful for good, loyal friends who have stood at my side these past years as I've mourned the death of my husband, Dave.

I am thankful to have met Marty, my wonderful gentleman friend who is a brilliant photographer and gardener.

I am thankful that my Muse has finally risen from the ashes and again allows me to fulfill my role as storyteller, and that The Gift is finally in print and available to my readers.

Finally, I am ever-so-thankful for my dear, loyal readers. What would a writer be without readers? And vice-versa...? Since all writers are readers--and I do wish I knew who first said "scratch a writer, find a reader"--I proudly wear both hats.

Books, stories, worlds beyond the one in which we live. Escape. There are no boundaries. No limits. Only our imaginations and the written word. All entertainment depends on writers--on storytellers.

Let us all remember next time we go to a movie, watch television, read a novel, a story, or even see a commercial, that a writer somewhere had to put words together to make the moment possible.

And give thanks for the miracle of Story.

Readers and Writers. We make quite a pair. Don't we?

Have a safe, joyous, healthful, and fulfilling Thanksgiving.

And happy reading!

Love,
Deb

Family Gathering

My dad came to visit last weekend, as is his habit every fall to take in the Aspen glow. He and his lady friend had to drive to 10,000 feet to see them at their most brilliant on Saturday, while I stayed home to prepare a big family feast for Sunday to celebrate my son, Ben's, 20th birthday. It's a good thing he came when he did, because we had snow on the ground here the day he left. ::sigh::



Great-Grandpa meeting his great-granddaughter (Bella) for the first time. :)



My Maggie sneaking a kiss.



Mother/Daughter portrait. I'm a little biased, but I think they're both beautiful.



Family portrait, and Maggie managed to sneak into this one, too. LOL!

All photos taken by my wonderful gentleman friend, personal photographer, and master gardener, Martin Yaslowitz.

Love,
Deb

Summer Days

The garden is growing, flowers are blooming. My gentleman friend does the gardening here (and takes the beautiful photos), and we've been eating fresh lettuce, peas and such for weeks. I watch the tomatoes eagerly, hoping to see some color, but they ripen slowly at 7,436 feet. In fact, for years I only grew green ones, until I discovered the magic of Epsom Salts. Adding that magic to the soil, then using it to spray on the plants and put in the water later in the season helps the fruit ripen. Hurray! It really works wonderfully. I also have a greenhouse, which lengthens our very short growing season a little, too.

And Baby Bella is growing, too. I took this photo with my phone yesterday while she was visiting with her mom. At 9 weeks, she weighs almost 13 pounds. Her eyes are turning bluer like her mom's, and she is cooing and "talking." In fact, she was "talking" to me when I snapped this photo.

Everything is growing, including my proposal. After a couple of false starts, I've finally fleshed out the plot and should be sending it off to my agent soon. My working title is The Secret, and it is a sequel to my November release, The Gift.

Of course, Baby Bella is a true gift.

Happy reading and gardening, wherever you live.

Love,
~Deb

Bella's Growing

And more beautiful every day. :)

Proud Grandma,
Deb Stover

Baby Bella Update

My new granddaughter is six weeks old now, and weighs over 10 pounds. She's a champion nurser, and her mother is following in her mother's footsteps with attachment style parenting and full-time nursing. I'm a major breastfeeding advocate, and even nursed my two adopted newborns, so I'm particularly proud of my daughter for getting Bella off to the best possible start in life. Her mother-in-law--the other proud Grandma!--is a lactation consultant, so she has lots of help. :) Neither of us are meddlers, though. At least I hope I'm not.... Ahem.

Latest photo, which was taken around July 1st, 2009 at age six weeks. She's a beauty, and her eyes are getting lighter. Mom's are blue like mine, and her dad's are gold--officially hazel, I suppose. Maybe we'll mix blue and gold and go green. :)

Here's Grandma's Little Doll:



Happy reading and writing!

~Deb

The Circle of Life

My birth daughter and I have both noticed the resemblance between her newborn daughter and her late father. However, the older Bella gets, the stronger the resemblance becomes. I scanned a baby photo I have of him and one I took of my granddaughter yesterday and put them side by side. It's true! She definitely looks like her Grandpa!

We will be even more blessed if Annabella also inherits his sense of humor and big heart. :)

Happy reading!

~Deb

Precious Baby Girl

Annabella sweet 16 days old. Grandma isn't a bit biased. :-)